What is the best spam blocker/filter (free or paid)?
Seamaiden
What is the best free spam filter, and can it compare with the paid
programs? I'd like to get some feedback (good or bad) about any spam
blocking program. Help me try to weed out the ones that are junk
(adware, spyware, etc.).
Spam Filter Review 2006 (Top 10)
http://spam-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/
No free programs are in the list. Shown is the filter, its price and its
overall rating.
SpamEater Pro ($24.95) excellent
http://www.hms.com/spameater.asp
http://www.hms.com/sep-compare.asp
(SpamEater free was not reviewed.
Qurb ($29.95) very good
http://www.qurb.com/
($29.95 LICENSE FEE IS VALID FOREVER, no renewals or subscriptions,
Outlook and Outlook Express)
ChoiceMail One ($39.95) very good
http://www.digiportal.com/
(ChoiceMail free only protects one email account. ChoiceMail One is for
Single-users with multiple email accounts or who want to protect AOL,
Yahoo, MSN or Hotmail accounts.)
McAfee Spam Killer ($24.99) very good
http://www.spamkiller.com/
http://us.mcafee.com/root/product.asp?productid=msk
http://www.hms.com/sep-compare.asp
Spam Buster ($19.95) very good
http://www.hms.com/sep-compare.asp
Matador (MailFrontier Desktop) ($29.95) good/very good
http://www.mailfrontier.com/products_matador.html
http://blogs.clearscreen.com/migs/archive/2004/09/16/400.aspx
(Outlook and Outlook Express. Supports paid Hotmail, MSN, and other mail
when used with Outlook Express)
Cloudmark SpamNet ($39.95) good
- Cloudmark Desktop (SafetyBar/SpamNet) for Outlook Express ($39.95)
- Cloudmark Desktop (SafetyBar/SpamNet) for Outlook ($39.95)
http://www.cloudmark.com/
(Only for Outlook and Outlook Express)
Spam Agent ($29.95) good
http://www.anti-spam-software.com/
iHateSpam ($19.95) good
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/iHateSpam.cfm
(Outlook, Outlook Express, and Eudora)
MailWasher (free or $37.00) fair (not sure if the free or Pro version
was reviewed)
http://www.mailwasher.net/
http://www.hms.com/sep-compare.asp
(If you have multiple accounts or use IMAP, Hotmail, MSN or AOL, you
need the Pro version.)
Here are some other other spam blockers that were not reviewed.
SpamAssassin (free/open source)
http://spamassassin.apache.org/
(Perl or C++ seems to be a prerequisite for the Windows version. Sounds
complicated!)
Spam Bully
http://www.spambully.com/ ($39.95 reg, $29.95 sale)
(Only for Outlook and Outlook Express)
SpamButcher ($29.95)
http://www.spambutcher.com/
A2 (a-squared) Anti-Spam (free)
http://www.a-2.org/en/software/antispam/
SpamPal (free)
http://www.spampal.org/
Spamhilator (free)
http://www.spamihilator.com/
SPAMfighter (free for personal use)
SPAMfighter Pro ($29)
http://www.spamfighter.com/
(Only for Outlook and Outlook Express)
ella for SpamControl free version for Outlook (free)
ella for SpamControl for Outlook ($29.95)
ella for SpamControl for Outlook Express ($29.95)
http://www.openfieldsoftware.com/
(The free version adds a two line promotional signature to your outbound
Outlook mail to tell your friends that you use the free version of Ella.
This cannot be turned off unless you buy the paid version.)
SpamWeed ($29.95)
http://www.spamweed.com/
Gerard J. Cerchio
Jeff Stampes
> SpamAssassin (free/open source)
> http://spamassassin.apache.org/
> (Perl or C++ seems to be a prerequisite for the Windows version. Sounds
> complicated!)
We use SpamAssassin on the server side. After a few months of education, the spam hitting
the inbox has dropped dramatically. I don't know how complicated it is in comparison with
other tools, but it's free and for me it seems very simple to use.
~Jeff
Kent W. England
>
>
> What is the best free spam filter, ... ?
I find the Thunderbird Bayesian spam filter to be the best.
Ron Lopshire
> What is the best free spam filter, and can it compare with the paid
> programs? I'd like to get some feedback (good or bad) about any spam
> blocking program. Help me try to weed out the ones that are junk
> (adware, spyware, etc.).
>
> Spam Filter Review 2006 (Top 10)
> http://spam-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/
>
> No free programs are in the list. Shown is the filter, its price and its
> overall rating.
Of course not. Freeware authors don't pay for advertising. <g> Look at
these guy's AV recommendations, and then go ask the AV experts what
they think of their reviews. Reviews and opinions are like, well you
know, everyone has one. Stick to 1) tests, and 2) what works for you
with your system with your particular needs.
Here are a couple of links:
List of Lists
(http://lists.thedatalist.com/)
List of Lists - AntiSpam Tools
(http://lists.thedatalist.com/pages/AntiSpam_Tools.htm)
In the grc.spam NG, these are highly recommended.
Robin Keir's K9 Anti-Spam Utility
(http://keir.net/k9.html)
The Popfile Project
(http://popfile.sourceforge.net/)
Both of these are freeware (personal use) and were developed based on
the work of Paul Graham and John Graham-Cumming.
(http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html)
(http://www.paulgraham.com/better.html)
Quote: "Between December 10 2002 and January 10 2003 I got about 1750
spams. Of these, 4 got through. That's a filtering rate of about
99.75%. ... Now for the really shocking news: during that same
one-month period I got three false positives."
Do your own tests. What gets through that shouldn't and what doesn't
get through that should. Once you figure out what is important to you,
you can decide if you want to shell out some money for a full-featured
app with all of the bells and whistles.
I once saw one of these Review Sites that accepts advertising money
from the same vendors that they review (geez), show as a feature in
the review of AV applications, are you ready for this, skins. Skins,
for crying out loud, as a criterion for choosing an AV app! Beam me
up, Scottie. Please.
Ron :)
ghirardelli
I am using this one(about $40/year), based on sender verification
Within a month (I usually received 40 spams/day on average), only 4
went through.
